Best Day of our 3 weeks in New Zealand -- Wine Tour of Martinborough with Silver Cloud Luxury Tours - We booked a full day, customized Martinborough Wine Tour with Silver Cloud Luxury Tours. Helen, our guide and owner of the company, delivered an incredible experience. She set the Platinum... read more standard for service, friendliness and knowledge. I'm afraid we're spoiled for life now. It was the best day we had in New Zealand and we had some very amazing days there.

She left nothing to chance. She asked about our wine preferences and customized the tour to suit them. Her spotless MB van was directly imported, had extremely comfortable "captains chairs", road well and was well stocked with various drinks and snacks. The multiple sunroofs were a delightful and unexpected addition to the experience. Her family is in the wine business and she was greeted as an old friend at all the wineries we visited. She arranged for several wine tours, not just tastings. She knows Peter Jackson personally so, when we stopped at lovely parks for pictures and drove over the Rimutaka Ranges to Martinborough, she pointed out many places that were used for filming scenes of Lord of the Rings and the digital effects studios that remain. She tells great stories. She dealt with a sudden, unannounced bridge closing with aplomb.

Our first stop was Schubert Wines where Kai explained each of the broad selection of wines we tasted. We bought a lovely, unusual Rose. We had an excellent wine tasting and an exquisite lunch with Toby at Tirohana Estate. Lucy at Murdock James estate devoted an enormous amount of time to us. Her passion showed in her explanation of growing grapes for good wines and dealing with Mother Nature's vicissitudes. We finished at Te Kairangi Estate where we sampled several delicious whites and reds and bought two of their red Reserve wines. Interspersed with the winery visits were multiple breaks for coffee and snacks and shopping. She made extra stops for us to replace items we had lost previously during our travels.

Even at the end of our long day of touring, she was still smiling and helpful. We were flying out of Wellington airport the next day and it is under construction. She tracked down the new location and instructions for checking in with our airline so we wouldn't have any surprises. And, it turned out that she was good friends of and neighbors with the owners of Acorns B&B, where we were staying (also great)..

Overall, not only was this an unbelievably good tour but we have never been so well taken care of. I cannot recommend Silver Cloud Luxury Tours highly enough.

  Recently had the pleasure of a family tour (4 adults) with Helen & Jonathan (driver). Helen's knowledge of Wellington is amazing. The tour was of the city sights... read more & we loved every bit of it, especially the cable car ride & morning tea at the Roxy Theatre. Both Helen & Jonathan were accommodating & friendly, nothing was too much trouble. They let us take our time at the attractions that we were especially interested in & we were never hurried. We can't wait to cruise back to Wellington again take another tour with Helen. Thank you so much for our wonderful experience of Wellington & for the photos of our ship (Celebrity Solstice) departing Wellington.

  Absolute top service Friendly informative professional service Going the extra mile Nothing too problematic for Helen and Mark Would absolutely recommend them to anyone in the Wellington... read more region and all things airport transport and transfer

  Absolutely great tour which can give you a lot of informations of this small city. Very comfortable transport and easy to go. Helen is amazing tour guide. She can explain... read more a lot of interesting details about the city and things around. Absolutely not boring and I can not compare with any professional tour I have ever made. If you searching pearls around the city this tour will not disappoint you.

  The Very Best! - We wanted an intimate private tour that covered a lot of ground during our one precious day in Wellington. Helen of Silver Cloud Tours delivered that and then some! We... read more rode the cable car, saw government buildings, St. Pauls Church, had a delicious lunch at Roxy Theater, took at tour of Weta Studios and finished off with a wonderful visit to Te Papa which Helen personally narrated. We told Helen about our interests (LOTR, Maori culture) and she thoughtfully incorporated that into our itinerary. I have a bad knee and Helen was always there to help me into the van which is super comfortable with captains seats. Helen is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her home town of Wellington and kept us entertained and comfortable the whole time. After the tour was over Helen followed up that night with emails about things we might be interested in. We have been on quite a few private tours and Silver Cloud ranked up there with the best ever. Honestly we felt like Helen was a good friend rather than a tour guide. Prices are very reasonable for what you get too. Don't hesitate, book with Silver Cloud Luxury Tours!

  Amazing service with love. Helens service exceeded my expectations. She was very helpful, patient, organised some extra service and adding to this, she can tell intersting stories.

  Martinborough in one day - We had one day in Wellington on a cruise ship and wanted to maximize our day visiting wineries in Martinborough. We were lucky enough to find Helen with Silver Cloud... read more and it was a perfect day!!! She's incredibly informative about the wine industry in general having grown up around it and her passion and knowledge truly made the day a perfect 10. She helped us pick the best wineries to explore and peppered the day with great stories about the history of the area and personal anecdotes that really made it more special. We saw a larger group from our ship coming in to one of the stops and they didn't get a quarter of the special attention and experience that we did. Due to bad weather our port visit was delayed by a day and on very short notice Helen made changes to accommodate our group which really blew us away. If you're considering a tour here (wine related or otherwise) there is no better hostess!

  Great day in Wellington with Helen!! - Our group of 9 arriving on the Celebrity Solstice in November 2017 had a fantastic tour of Wellington with Helen in a very comfortable van. We saw the highlights... read more of the city and had a great lunch at the newly renovated art deco Roxy Theatre. We also had a tour of the WETA studios. Helen had a great knowledge of her city and a wonderful and engaging personality. We had a great day.

  Great way to see lots of Wellington Sites - I found this tour by accident, and was not disappointed. She explained a lot about her hometown, took us to many sights, especially ones that I really wanted to see... read more Zealandia, took us to the Cable Car Museum, rode the Cable Car and experienced how steep the hills are. We had high tea at the Roxy Cinema and Cafe. The food was excellent and walked around the Roxy and saw a real Oscar award and a display of "Precious". We went to Weta Caves and saw many props used in Peter Jackson's movies, drove around Seatoun Bay, saw Peter Jackson's house, site of the first Maori Landing of Kupe at Oruatiti Reserve, Mt. Victoria where we saw a 360 degree view of Wellington, the Rose Garden, Peace Flame Japanese Garden with waterfall, the "Beehive" Parliament grounds and to the Backbencher Gastropub to look at puppets of famous politicians. We had a very nice time and Helen. You won't be disappointed!